


An Object Lesson in Sibling Affection

by straightforwardly



Category: The Borgias (Showtime TV)
Genre: F/M, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-19 00:55:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22002649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/straightforwardly/pseuds/straightforwardly
Summary: Giulia notices something strange about Cesare and Lucrezia's relationship. Set early in season one.
Relationships: Cesare Borgia/Lucrezia Borgia
Comments: 3
Kudos: 44
Collections: Party Like It's Post 999!





	An Object Lesson in Sibling Affection

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [FFA's Prompt Fest For Post 1000](https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/344797.html?thread=2003606493#cmt2003606493), for the following prompt:
>
>> Incest Smarm - Any, Outsider POV
>> 
>> Someone (another canon character or an OC) tries to figure out if all the touchy-feeliness is actually weird and inappropriate, or if they're the one being weird and inappropriate by looking at sibling affection and reading incest into it.

The incident occurred not long before Lucrezia’s wedding. On that day, Giulia dined with His Holiness, at his insistence—as did Cesare, also at His Holiness’s insistence, as he wished to discuss some small, but thorny matter with him. 

The meal was filled with the natural awkwardness that came from spending time together with one who held a dislike for the other as palpable as Cesare’s dislike for her, but she spoke to him as kindly as possible, when she could not avoid speaking to him at all without being rude, while he treated her with his usual icy politeness when he could not do the same, and that, combined with how His Holiness seemed determined not to notice there being anything amiss, carried them through the meal. 

Likely, it would not have lingered long in her mind at all, were it not for what happened after.

For just as Cesare rose from his chair, bowing to his father as he excused himself, Lucrezia, full of girlish enthusiasm, bounded into the room. Giulia smiled, a true smile, at the sight of her—she _liked_ Lucrezia, with her clever eyes and sweet voice. Befriending her had been a practical decision—it was far better to have her lover’s daughter as an ally than as an enemy—but she’d genuinely enjoyed doing so as well.

His Holiness smiled too at the sight of his daughter, and Cesare—Cesare _transformed_. The grim-faced cardinal melted away, showing a face she’d never seen before: unburdened and joyous. For the first time, she remembered how _young_ he was—only a year younger than herself. In an instant, he was at Lucrezia’s side, his hand at her elbow, his head bending down to hers just as she looked up to him. Both were smiling; both were radiant.

Giulia’s own smile faded. If pressed, she would not have been able to articulate the reason why. She had never seen the two together in the same place before, but they made for a sweet picture—an object lesson in sibling affection. Their obvious regard for one another should have touched her. Instead, it made her uneasy. 

Were they not a little too close? And did Lucrezia’s eyes not linger overlong on her brother’s mouth? The way Cesare brushed a curl away from her ear—was it not too intimate, too much like the touch of a—the touch of a—of a—?

She could not think it. She scarcely knew what she thought at all. She certainly could not put a word to it. This was _Lucrezia_. One day she would be a force to be reckoned with, but now she was still young—still half a child. An innocent. She’d barely known what it was to kiss. 

They were siblings who loved one another: that was all. She should appreciate that; after all, did she too not adore her own brother? Yet, somehow, the idea of comparing her own relationship with Alessandro to the two she saw before her disturbed her to the core. 

His Holiness’ booming voice disrupted the scene, and as Lucrezia pulled away from Cesare to give her father a daughterly kiss on the cheek, Giulia could not help but feel relieved. 

It was nothing. It had to have been nothing. 

At the same time—perhaps it was for the best, she thought, that Lucrezia would be wedding so soon.


End file.
